


First Day in Teacher's Classes

by Xenamorph



Series: Sestiva Sunthorn Saga [3]
Category: Wizard101 (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Overstimulation, Panic Attacks, Thunder and Lightning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26135263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xenamorph/pseuds/Xenamorph
Series: Sestiva Sunthorn Saga [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1552402
Kudos: 2





	First Day in Teacher's Classes

Sestiva looked down at zir class schedule, frowning slightly at the sight of the first lesson. _Basic Verses taught by Halston Balestrom in the Storm School_. Seems like zir first class of the day is just going to make zir fur static-y for the rest of the day. Hopefully after a while of zir learning about Balance, ze'll be able to choose a specification that will take zir out of the Diviner curriculum.

But, ze can also understand why ze was expected to take classes from all of the schools. Some sorcerers did tend to have a secondary school of magic (a supplementary school in order to be able to combine the schools for a further specialization that fit the Sorcerer's personality), but Sestiva knew that she'd never really willingly take on Divining. It was too electric, too uncontrollable and dangerous and ze'd seen enough moths grounded forever after having the keratin rubbed off of their wings.

But in her brief introduction to Halston, ze did like the man! He had a certain eclectic air around him, and he seemed to be attentive to all of his students. According to the Diviner that ze slept a few doors down from, the workload was heavy, but the professor kept his door always open for help and extra credit. Sestiva was sure that he would try his level best to help zir not be constantly electrocuted, but there was only so much a storm teacher could do when it was the basis of the actual school.

There was the chiming of a clock (where even was the clock? Sestiva always heard it but never saw it), and Sestiva muttered a little curse (not that anyone else would understand what it was, with it being just a trilling buzz and a shake of zir wings). Drawing zir father's cloak around zir shoulders, Sestiva moved out of the dorms (carefully avoiding the early morning traffic of people deciding whether or not taking an absent would be worse than being functional) and headed into the storm school. 

"Good morning, Torrence," zir voice was slightly sleepy, one hand moving up to cover zir yawn as ze stretched. Sestiva had gotten into the routine of greeting all of the trees every time ze passed them. It just felt polite, and most of them didn't get due attention. It just felt rude to walk right past something that was sentient and knew zir name and knew what ze liked!

"Good morning Sestiva," Torrence's voice was sad but it was always like that so Sestiva didn't exactly mind. Any response was always a good thing and ze let out a little buzz in response, "Good luck on your work today, I haven't felt a storm coming so hopefully the humidity won't get to you. But don't be surprised if I'm wrong."

"Well, thanks for telling me! That's really kind of you!" Sestiva's voice was a buzz and ze fiddled with one of zir stim rocks. Another chiming and ze fluttered inside of the room, settling in a seat at the back of the room. It was safer there and Halston had been told about zir aversion to electricity and he told zir that ze could take a seat in the back so long as ze did the work assigned. 

Which was rather kind of him, Sestiva was glad that even if ze had to learn storm magic at least the teacher was accommodating! The rest of the class filed in and it was so obvious who was here because they wanted to be and who was here because they had to be. The Diviners tended to take seats up in the front, closest to the teachers desk in order to better get on Halston's good side (and to be called up for demonstrations of their power). The other schools fall in the chairs in between, with the conjurer's usually taking up the back row in order to be further away from their opposite school counterpart.

But there were always exceptions to the rule, Sestiva knew that very well. There were always exceptions and one of them just slung herself into the chair next to Sestiva, ze bristling automatically at the feeling of electricity puff up zir fur. But they seemed to be an older Diviner, someone who should only really be in the class as an aid or an assistant. But instead they seemed to be an actual student, taking out parchment for notes and a quill. "Hey, I'm Devin Stormchaser," She greeted, sticking a scarred and skinny hand out.

There was the crackling of ozone around it, but Sestiva knew it was better to be shocked than to be rude. So ze took her hand and shook it, even as the electricity crackled against zir pads, "Sestiva Sunthorn, it's very nice to meet your acquaintance." 

"I don't think I've ever seen someone look like you before, where're ya from dearie?" Devin kicked back in her chair, propping her feet up on the desk with her chair on it's hind two legs, "I'm from here myself, if you want information for information, I've met fellas and fellows like that before. Like say anyone from Avalon? Don't give an inch with those folk, one time I told a gal thanks and she bartered me into being her tutor for three weeks." 

Sestiva blinked, already wanting to fiddle with her charm again, "Oh, I'm from Khrysalis. Not many people know of it." Ze fiddled with zir quill, brushing one of zir claws through the feathers on the end. "It's my first day here, is this the first day for you too?"

Devin let out a low laugh, tilting her head back as she looked at Sestiva up and down, "Nah, I've been coming here since I was a lil kid, but this is the first day of the Spring semester so don't worry. We're learning all new stuff and I'm sure that you'll get some supplementary lessons in order to catch up, and hey if shit really goes down, I'm fine with taking a couple extra credit points for helping out." She grinned, glancing up at the front of the room before shrugging and turning back to zir. "So, you a Diviner or a Conjurer or what? I get that you're a newbie, but usually even newbies have their school picked out."

"Oh, I'm going to become a sorcerer! It was a pretty respectable fields in Khrysalis, and my fathers completely support my goals!" Ze chirped out, fiddling with zir parchment as ze tried to set it all out just so (but Devin's feet were a little in the way). "It's Balance magic and I know that not a lot of people here know about it or respect it, but I really like it!"

"Well, I dunno if I've ever properly met a sorcerer before, it's nice t'make your acquaintance, Sestiva. Maybe I can-" Devin cut herself off as she waved at someone coming in the door- "Talon! You're back, oh you said that you weren't going to even show up for semester two!"

Talon was tall and muscled, the sleeves of her robe having been messily chopped off (leaving small strands of thread exposed and curling with the humidity). Some scars covered her hands, electrical burns and knife slices of a woman who's main interest lay in the mechanical. "I said I _might_ not show up, but turns out I need a few more credits and I can only get them by being a teacher's assistant for the semester. And then, I'm off to Marleybone." She came by their table, leaning slightly against the edge of the desk closest to Sestiva (more electricity from this one, and ze could feel zir fur start to fluff up). 

"Oh wow, all the way to Marleybone, really? God, Talon, I thought I'd have more time with you!" Devin pouted, cupping her chin in both of her hands as she stared up at her, "You'll give me a pass to your house, right? That way I can just swing by from my dorms and I don't have to worry about you being there or not!"

"I'm not letting you just break into my house whenever you want, I don't care how close we are I don't trust you that much. I let you have a key next thing I know you get all in my shit and rearrange my living room and I find you sleeping on my couch. Ain't happening toots, but I will let you know when I'm all moved in so you can bring something to the housewarming party." There was a clanging noise (not that loud but it was loud enough to draw zir attention) and when Sestiva looked, there was a long, thin lightning rod hanging from Talon's belt.

"Excuse me, Miss, is that what your wand looks like?" Sestiva asked, blinking up at her. Zir own wand was boring and drab (though it wasn't like ze was anywhere as adapt as ze would have to be to use zir fathers' versions), just a grooved horn that came to a point.

"Wh- oh hey there new comer! Yeah this is my wand, not that it gets much love from me, but it does its job," Talon grinned, unhooking it and grasping it in her hand. At the bottom, as a sort of hand guard, there was an intricate wrote iron detailing. "I got it as a present from Boss up there after I finished up my actual storm classes. Not everyone gets it, but I guess I'm just his favorite."

Devin snorted, rolling her dark brown eyes, "Tch, yeah right. Anyway, this is Sestiva, they're a new sorcerer and they come from Khrysalis."

While Sestiva knew zir pronouns (and knew that they weren't they/them), it wasn't like ze minded neutral pronouns, "Oh- uh, yeah. This isn't an astral spell or a transformation, I really am a moth!" As if to prove it, Sestiva fluttered zir wings behind them. 

Talon seemed a little impressed, humming and tilting her head a bit as she looked zir up and down, "Now that really is new, I dunno if I've heard about Khrysalis before."

"Oh, that's...not that odd! A lot of people don't know about it, but it's rather fascinating! I've actually only seen humans in artwork and books that my fathers got me from the trade hubs. So this is new for the both of us!" Zir eyes widened as the teacher, Halston Balestrom, jumped up on top of the desk at the front.

Instead of clapping his hands (which was a bit more normal in the schools of Khrysalis), Halston just shot a bolt of lightning up into the lightning rod that was set into the ceiling above the desk. "Alright! Although I know I've met all of you on your mandatory tour of the schools, I might as reintroduce myself!" He adjusted his jaunty little suit (Sestiva was momentarily distracted by that, and ze wondered where he got that suit). "My name is Halston Balestrom and I am the storm teacher at Ravenwood! I've been working here for a good couple decades, I've been practicing storm magic for my entire life!" 

He snapped his fingers to make the chalkboard behind him so that the chalk began to scribble on the chalk board. "First up, Basic Verses and storm magic! Now, who can tell me how storm magic itself works?" The diviners at the front all raised their hands, and though Devin was in the back she also raised her hand. Her eyes darted over to Sestiva and her grin turned into a slight smirk and her voice was a lot lower as she spoke.

"This is just review for a lot of us, but if you really wanna go into any sort of storm magic, or even just know how to deflect it, I'd take notes. First thing we gotta know to actually cast magic is what we're using and how to stop someone else from using it." Devin's voice was low, but apparently not low enough to scrape by unheard.

"Devin Stormchaser!" Halston's voice was cheery and light, but there was a good deal of challenge in his voice, "Since you seem so ready to help people, why don't you share with the class how Divining works! I'm sure you have the answer all up and ready!" 

A little huff, and she twirled her pencil around her fingers as she stayed kicked back in her chair, "Okay well storm magic uses Verses to hypnotized the summoned creatures into being willing minions. While there are set songs to summon creatures, after a while of getting practiced in Divining, a user can instead replace those tried and true methods with songs that are more personal. I myself have found that the set songs work fine, but the personal songs seem to help me better than anything that was given to me by someone else. A lot of Diviners feel the same way if they take the more magic track, though those that are focusing on the natural elements summoned may find that the premade spells would work just fine."

Halston laughed, flicking his weird frog digits as he hopped to the board, "Very good, Wizard Stormchaser! I knew that I could through you on the spot and you'd still impress me! Now, if our lovely Wizard Stormblood would be so kind as to come up here and example the latter."

Talon huffed slightly, but there was a little smile on her face as she drifted up to the front of the classroom. Her hand moved down to unhook her wand from her belt, and she waved it around, "I am Talon Stormblood, and most of you know me because I've been at this school for the past six years. While I am proficient at Divining, I have no interest in being an actual magician. My main goal is to go to Marleybone and work in the factories there while using my storm magic to make everything more efficient. As such, my choice of wand reflects that." Her hand flicked, sparks flying out from the tip of it and landing on someone desk. "I can't do a lot of the spells that you guys do, but that's fine with me. I can summon up lightning, both ball and strike, and can do it better than most of you will ever be able to achieve."

"Wizard Stormblood, please keep your speech to the facts and not to petty insults," Halston seemed only a little peeved, and Sestiva got the feeling that Talon did this a lot. "While you are a fantastic lightning wielder, you are not the only one. Ball lightning is hard to create, and hard to master and control, but anyone can do it if they practice hard enough."

A little roll of her eyes, but Talon persisted, "Like I said, I'm not entirely up to date with any sort of actual summoning magic, but I can do it pretty well on my own terms. I'm the best with precision things, things that can help me control my summoned elements better, but- that also means I can help anyone who I'm set up on the battlefield as well." A few sparks flew off of her fingers and she scowled as she squeezed her hands tight to avoid anyone getting caught on fire from the sparks. "As you can see, I'm still working on my precision out of battle."

That got a few laughs, but Sestiva wasn't one of them. Ze just wrote down what she was saying because why wouldn't she? Precision was useful no matter the school that you go into (and if the little amount of what Sestiva had seen in zir Balance schedule, ze would also be learning a precision technique for any casting), and ze didn't want to be caught unawares in case this came up later. It was always good to be prepared, plus writing it all down would help zir remember it later when ze's writing zir letters.

"Now, since we have that lovely informative gesture from our darling Talon Stormblood, we are going to practicing precision spells. She'll be passing out the premade and perfected verses that summon it up, but if you are confident enough in your power you may use a custom one of your own." Talon started to pass out the small slips of paper as Halston talked, and Sestiva stared down at the words on it.

It was almost incomprehensible, barely English (but there was a pronunciation guide underneath all the words) and completely nonsensical to Sestiva. But if it worked, it worked. The words came out clunky and imprecise, something too mumbled and wrong for it to work. The slowly focusing light that had started growing above zir forehead dissipated with a pop of light. Sestiva's shoulders slumped and a little swirl started up around zir feet (it always happened whenever ze got emotional, zir fathers said it was proof of zir talent for Balance magic).

"Now now! Don't let a brief stumble get in the way of you truly using your powers!" Halston, who had been hopping across the desks and giving words of encouragement and praise to the students. Never spending more time on one person unless the person needed help (or extra encouragement, Halston didn't seem like the type to hold people's hands but gods would he be cheering them on constantly). His weirdly slimy and cool hand patting zir on the shoulder, "I've oft heard that nursery rhymes are the best sorts of things for precision, so if you don't feel comfortable with the old language, maybe you can try something for your own culture!"

His smile was wide enough to be reassuring, and zir antennae didn't pick up anything untrustworthy about him. There was no one around, well that wasn't true. There were a lot of people around, almost to the point of it being overstimulating when they all started creating their own balls of static, but no one was looking. Everyone was so in their own world that even the diviners that had finished were busy talking with each other and shouting across the room at each other. Devin, the only person who would probably hear, just gave zir a wink and went back to focusing on some writing that (if the symbol on the corner was right, was for Cyrus Drake's class).

So, Sestiva gave one more paranoid scan around the room, multifaceted eyes unblinking as ze tried to convince zirself that no one was going to pay attention to a little lullaby. Furthermore, no one was going to understand what ze was singing, so it didn't matter if it was embarrassing. So, under zir breath and all flushed up and quiet, Sestiva began to focus on the little glyph on the paper and began to sing. Khyrslian was a melodic language, all buzzing highs and thrumming lows. You had to put your whole body into it, rubbing legs together and fluttering wings and making antennae vibrate.

So maybe it was a little more distracting than someone else's song, but still no one looked. There was no attention on zir and soon enough their perspective sharpened. Like ze was looking through her father's glasses, all zoomed in and distinct. A little too distinct, so many specifics were everywhere and Sestiva felt like the static in the room had all come right onto zir skin. Zir hands started to tremble and zir breathing started to hitch up as all of the new things ze could feel and see started to overwhelm zir.

"Professor Balestrom!" Talon's voice rang out in the classroom and it was far too loud for Sestiva, zir hands moving up to clap over zir antennae, "We need a Pierce over here stat!" 

Magic worked strange outside of duel circles. Like precision blades causing a panic attack when they were supposed to clear the casters mind, how summoned minions could come in small and large sizes. And how those sorts of buffs could be disintegrated outside of duels. Halston leaped across the room in one large jump and slammed a small glyph paper down on zir head, forcing the hyper focus to stop. But still, Sestiva was shaking, and ze could barely feel Talon's hands gently lifting zir up and carrying zir out of the room.

"Hey, hey, lil moth buddy..." Talon's voice was soft and reassuring as she leaned Sestiva up against the wall closer to the ice school, "I need you to do me a few favors, okay? You can do that for me, right?"

Sestiva nodded zir head, still finding zirself mostly outside of zir body, but ze could understand Talon's voice. Ze could do a few simple favors, it was all okay, ze just needed to somehow worm zir way back into the body that ze had.

"I need you to point out five things you can see, that's pretty easy right?" Normally Sestiva would've found this condescending and annoying, but in this half there half gone state it was comforting. Bringing up memories of sitting on zir fathers' lap and having them do the same thing for zir.

Slowly, Sestiva's hand raised. Pointing first to Talon's face, then to the snowflakes from Kelvin, then to the ground, and then the antennae which was on zir peripheral, and finally: the free room across the path. It was simple, and slowly Sestiva felt like ze was a little more reassured in the fact that ze was a real being with a body.

"Okay, that's great! That's great!" Talon praised easily, and her smile was another thing that Sestiva could see. It was reassuring, and though people didn't really have the ability to smile like that on zir homeworld, it was comforting all the same. "Can you point to, or even name if you're okay with that, four things that you can feel?"

"S-strap of my bag-" Sestiva cringed hearing zir own voice, but ze just bounced zir wrists against zir chest, "Uh- Uh, my fur against my body. T-the ground against my feet I can feel the static," One more, not that hard. Talon wasn't asking for anything difficult, "Your hand on my back."

"You're doing great, I'm proud of you," Talon's voice was soft and reassuring as she continued to rub Sestiva's back, "What about three things you can hear? You can point, gesture or say them, there's no rush." And really, there wasn't. Sestiva felt no rush in order to get the words out, or even to have there be words at all. And slowly, so slowly like they were moving through syrup, Sestiva moved to latch onto Talon's arm and tug her closer.

"I-I can hear you talking, fish swimming in the ponds, and...and laughter. There's laughter from inside the storm classroom," The latter was a little unsure, but it was there. Distant, but there. It was wild and high and there seemed to be more magic cast in there than what they were told to cast. And that was okay, Sestiva did not feel like ze was missing out when ze was out here with Talon.

"That's great!" Talon repeated, and even though it was repetitive it was reassuring as ever. "Now, two things that you smell."

"Ozone, from the storm tree. An-" Sestiva took a deep breath in, eyes shutting as ze focused zirself, "Peppermint, I smell peppermint." And really, ze smelled of peppermint. The scent was always calming, and it wasn't like zir parents ever had a lack of peppermint candies around, so ze took them and kept them in zir bag.

"Now, one thing you can taste." Talon looked a little relieved that it had gone so well, and Sestiva couldn't blame her. She was good at this, Sestiva felt safe and comforted and Talon was a steady presence at zir side.

"Also Ozone, or maybe copper if you want something more specific." Sestiva chirped out, rolling zir shoulders back as ze got used to being in a body again. There was a moment of silence between the two (aside from the noises that were going on around them) and then Sestiva fluttered to pat Talon's shoulder, "Thanks for this."

"No problem, the sort of spell that we were working on today sometimes does that to people. So Halston and I set this sort of thing up, he would disarm the blade off of the person and I'd take them outside to calm them down," There were a few wrinkles that formed around Talon's eyes, a hint of pride in them as she straightened up, "I've gotten pretty good at it, Moolinda Wu told me that I could be a therapist if my job in Marleybone doesn't work out."

"I think that it is going to work out, you're a very good diviner and you seem to have a good work ethic."

Talon paused, obviously unsure how to take a compliment from a moth with large dark eyes and a strange peppermint smell to them, but soon enough she broke into a wide grin, "That means a lot coming from a stranger, and I'm sure that whatever place you take that Sorcery of yours is going to turn out great too."

"I know I know, keep my antennae up and my head on a swivel," Sestiva spoke out, having long memorized the phrases that the old Mantis nannies would tell zir whenever ze was playing in the market and was almost run over. 

Talon blinked, a little confused, but slowly nodded her head, "That sounds...about right, but what I was gonna say, is keep your eyes on the prize. You're only as successful as what you want to be, and it never hurts shooting too far up."

"Shoot for the moon, miss and you'll end up among the stars," It was something that zir father had always said, an old addage that was in some dusty old scroll that he had found on one of his first trips out. It was important to him, which meant that it was important to zir. 

This time, Talon smiled widely, "That's exactly what we say here, Sestiva." A strong hand moved and clapped zir firmly on the shoulder, "You're going to fit in great, and I can see bright things in your future." At the word bright, Talon raised her other hand and allowed sparks to form and swirl up towards the sky.

Sestiva laughed, opening zir mouth to reply and thank her for how wonderful she had been during zir panic attack. But then the clock bell started to ring, and Sestiva's eyes went wide, "Oh dear! I have to go to Golem Court for Madame Wu's lesson! This was great but I have to get there fast!" It was soft and surprised, but ze sped past Talon to pick up zir bookbag (and deftly dodge out of the way of well meaning concerned people who were absolutely about to make zir late). The race to Golem Court wasn't entirely necessary, but Sestiva hated being late and the thought of showing up late to zir first lesson of the class was horrifying.


End file.
